Contentions

Bill Clinton gave the strongest, most compelling, and persuasive political speech of this entire season. He has upstaged Biden, but that doesn’t matter. This convention, which was floundering an hour ago, is a different . It was a reminder that oppo research and good stats can do more than be a “gotcha” technique, which is the only way journalists use them. In Clinton’s words, the accumulating data he compiled was a devastating indictment of the Bush’s eight years, and reminder of what Democratic policies aspire to achieve. Can the McCain team learn from this and build a similar case against Obama?

Here is a sign that things don’t look promising: as soon as the speech was over, Sean Hannity of Fox News started whining about why Clinton was not staying for Obama’s Thursday night speech. This is a speech that needs to be refuted, not complained about.